Arizona Diamondbacks: Evaluating Paul Goldschmidt's Start To The Season

By Chad Cramer

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Paul Goldschmidt should have won the National League MVP last season. Goldschmidt led the actual winner, Andrew McCutchen, in most batting statistics, and the main reason for McCutchen’s win was likely his team’s success. This season, Goldschmidt is off to an incredible start yet again, and will likely get lots of MVP votes this year.

Goldschmidt is currently leading the NL in hits as well as doubles, and has a slash line of .342/.384/.555 to start the season. Though he has only hit six home runs thus far, he is just now starting to find his power stroke, as he has hit three home runs in the last four games. He is on pace for just 27 home runs and 95 RBIs, and while that certainly doesn’t seem bad, considering last year he led the NL with 36 home runs and 125 RBIs, he could certainly stand to improve.

On defense, Goldschmidt was phenomenal last season, winning the Gold Glove. However, this season has been a different story. Goldschmidt currently has a negative dWAR, as well as a fielding percentage of just .991. In comparison, Goldschmidt had a fielding percentage of .997.

Throughout the beginning of the year, while the Arizona Diamondbacks have been awful, Goldschmidt has been great. Hitting-wise, Goldschmidt is in the top 10 in the league in most of the major hitting categories, and while his defense may not be where it should be at this point in the season, it will likely improve over the course of the year.

At just 26 years old, Paul Goldschmidt is not even in his prime yet, and he will likely continue to get better in all aspects of the game.